In the process for communicating digitized video over a network from one point/node to another point/node, the video is encoded at the sender side device, communicated over the network from the sender side device to the recipient side device, and then decoded at the recipient side device. This encoding/decoding reduces the quantity of data that must be communicated to deliver the video from the sender to the recipient, and therefore reduces the amount of bandwidth of the network required for the communication. Typically, video is encoded/decoded according to a specified technical standard, such as MPEG1, MPEG2, H.263, VC-1 and H.264.
These encode/decode standards are somewhat similar in process and device requirements. In particular per each standard, digitized video is stored as a series of “frames” in multiple “frame buffers” in memory, and each frame buffer for each frame is segregated into a plurality of smaller “macroblock” segments. Encoding and decoding operations each include processing the frames in sequence, via respective sequential processing of the frames via frame buffers for each frame on a macroblock by macroblock basis for each frame. For video comprising at least some fairly same or static data from time-to-time among respective macroblocks (i.e., either of same or other frames), much of the processing required for encoding and decoding is primarily mere copying of data contents. In particular, data of each static macroblock of a frame buffer memory location must be copied into another frame buffer memory location, and this process repeated for every static macroblock of each frame buffer. Both the encoder of the encode side device and the decoder of the decode side device must typically perform these copy and similar operations for each static macroblock, and for all static macroblocks of each frame buffer and frame of the series for the entire video. Thus, these copy operations consume processing time and capacity.
It would therefore be desirable, and a significant improvement in the art and technology, to provide more efficient encode and decode devices and processes, particularly for fairly same or static data (e.g., representing video, graphics, and similar and other information sets and files) and other instances.